“Slumdog Millionaire” is one of those Cinderella-style fairy-tale movies that appeal to the Everyman in all of us who longs for power and riches and love, but, sadly, is denied the full fruition of our dreams by that unfortunate little thing we call reality. Films like this conveniently erase the barriers of reality and allow us to move, vicariously with the hero, out to the fullness of his/her/our dreams.

Two things stand out about this particular tale, though. First of all, the acting is, for the most part, very good. These kinds of films always rise or fall on the acting of the main character, and this lynchpin character delivers. In order for this character to work though, it takes three actors to reflect three stages of the character’s life. As a matter of fact, two other characters also grow up with the main character, and every character takes three actors to show the development. It is to the great credit of the actors and director Danny Boyle that that acting is superlative enough to hold all of this together with high credibility.

The second thing that stands out is signaled when the film starts by the “R” rating. When I saw that “R” rating, I was a little surprised, because fairy-tale films, like the recently reviewed “August Rush” are almost always PG or G-type films with few rough edges and a high comfort zone. Not so with “Slumdog Millionaire.” This films bristles with raw, edgy, and sometimes shocking footage that some may find very disturbing but which always fits spot-on credibly with where and when the story is taking place and heightens the tension of the wildly improbable but unabashedly appealing plot.

The story is that of an orphaned Indian boy of 18, Jamal Malik, who lives in abject poverty in the slums of Mombai, and how he has a once-in-a-billion-or-so chance to win 20 million rupees on a TV game show which is India’s version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”. How he gets on to this show is through a set of improbable circumstances, and how he collects and gives his answers to the questions is through another wildly improbable set of circumstances, thus giving the impression that mathematical probability in reality weigh enormously against any kind of chance of success for him, but there he is. The whole idea that a kid from the slums could know the answers to the erudite questions posed by the TV game show's cavalier host seems so improbable to someone in authority, that when the show takes a break for the night, Jamal is arrested, tortured, and interrogated as to whether or not he is cheating. Jamal’s explanations to his captors of his life in the slums and his relationships with others then form the frame of the movie, and in the end he is set free to complete his competition in the game show. As 60 million viewers, some with life and some with death on their minds tune in, we come to the Final Answer.

One of the really interesting things about this movie, apart from the basic story as delivered, is that this is one of the first movies we have in the 21st century that really shows how a globalized economy is inexorably taking over the world and is affecting even those in developing countries who happen to live at the bottom of the economic food chain. Jamal encounters life in an international telephone call center where he crazily interacts with a Scot in Britain over the phone, as well as when he encounters some American tourists at the Taj Mahal. And he takes it all in stride, adapting like Dickens’ Artful Dodger, with no need for intercultural translation; he is a regular, working, operational fixture in the flat world.

This ability to intermingle in the flat world beyond India is mirrored in his ability to run, adapt, dodge danger, fake people out, and keep on running toward his dream through the slums and high-rises of his town. It is only when love for the girl of his dreams overcomes him that he slows down to a stop and makes his stand, improbably as always, on a TV game show. It is as if all the globalized knowledge, trivia, and educated guesses of his ragamuffin life can now be focused with inertia on a small and vastly rewarding target. Sure, the reward is symbolized by the monetary number of the 20 million rupees, but for Jamal it is far more than that; it is simply the chance to get something terribly right in a world that, from his birth, has tried to marginalize him into a figment of trivia. That is a real prize.

The main (adult) actors in the film are: Dev Patel, who plays the older Jamal; Frieda Pinto, who plays his girlfriend Latika, and Madhur Mittal, who plays Jamal’s brother Salim. As the climax of the film nears, these three capture our attention with compulsion as we await the outcome.

This is a wonderfully entertaining film for adults and for older youth; it may be a pretty raw and rough thing for children to watch. Yet for the mature, this story crackles with energy and awareness, and it once again demonstrates for all of us on the globe that courage and imagination are universal.

Five Stars/*****

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older